Window cornices. Window valance. Window box. My husband calls it the thing above the window. Whatever you call it, they’re awesome and they add so much to your window! There are so many different ways to build and hang these. I was a little intimidated about building one of these because I wasn’t sure how to attach it to the wall and I wasn’t sure if it would actually look ok if it were made of foam board. I mean who can make something awesome out of foam poster board?! I should have done these a loooooong time ago-they’re so easy and so cheap and they surprisingly look great!

Kylie’s cornice turned out awesome too and I can’t wait to share her room with you guys as soon as I’m finished. Buuuuuuut I did do a terrible job the first time around on Kylie’s window cornice… I learned a few things not to do so I thought I’d share. It looked pretty bad at first, I’ll just be real with you. Here’s a tiny sneak peek of Kylie’s before and after:

I made my window cornices out of foam poster board, wrapped with quilt batting and fabric around it, attached the fabric and batting with duct tape/quilting pins to the foam board and the cornice box rests on 2 L brackets. No power tools necessary this time. 😉

Supply list:

$3 for 3 Foam poster board (In Kylie’s room I used 3 foam boards from dollar tree-they worked just as well as the name brand from walmart that I used on Presley’s room but didn’t cost 3.50 a piece)

$5.97 Quilt Batting (there’s so much in 1 package. I’ve used it for 2 cornices so far and can make another maybe 2 more from it)

$8 for 2 yards of fabric (I realized recently that Walmart has a small section of home upholstery fabrics for $3.97 a yard. They’re thick and the patterns are great.)

$3 Ball head pins (you can totally use straight pins but they hurt your fingers after awhile. I liked the pins with the little ball on the head.)

Regular pins

Ball head pins

L bracket or curtain rod brackets (I had some of those curtain rod brackets in my garage not being used so I used them for this. You could buy a cheap L bracket from Lowe’s or Home Depot if you don’t have something similar. They’re like $3 for a pack of (2) 4″ L brackets

Curtain rod brackets:

L bracket:

White duct tape (I used purple duct tape from our junk drawer on Kylie’s the first round and had thin yellow fabric-I could see the tape through it. Dark tape is not the best choice with thin fabric. I had to recover it with another fabric and I loved it- I left the purple duct tape with the thick fabric. But use white duct tape if you have thin fabric.)

Scissors

Measuring tape

Here’s how I did it:

Measure your window width first so you know how much fabric and foam board to buy! My window was 38″ wide. Once you’ve measured your window, you’ll want to think about how much space you want on both sides of your window for your curtains. I added 6″ of space on the left and 6″ of space on the right for my curtains to hang. Then you’ll want to think about how deep you want this cornice box to be. I learned the hard way that you don’t want it too deep…it will sit off your wall too far and leave the curtains looking empty. In Kylie’s room I thought 8″ would be good but it was soo big and weird looking. Honestly it looked terrible all around the first time. See….

After some trial and error, I found that I personally like 4″ of depth on my cornice boxes. So in my case we had this measurement for the cornice box:

38″ window

+ 6″ on the left side of the window

+ 6″ on the right side of the window

+ 4″ depth on the left

+ 4″ of depth on the right

=58″ of poster board length

I duct taped my foam board together and got to measuring. I didn’t have much height to take advantage of in these bedrooms, the windows are pretty close to the ceiling, so my cornice boxes were 12″ tall.

I cut my sides and then scored the top line. I opened the scissors and ran it across my top line so it would bend over easily then duct taped it. This top piece will also end up being 4″ deep. It’s what will rest on the L brackets.

It’s faster to do this same thing with the sides-scoring instead of cutting the sides off. But I did it wrong the first time and it ended up being ok it just added extra work. I attached my 4″ side pieces with duct tape just like the top. Then I wrapped quilt batting around my cornice box and used duct tape and pins to hold it on there. Make sure you don’t leave too much batting overage on the inside of your box. You’ll want your fabric to be slightly longer than your batting so it can be taped and pinned to the foam board and not the fabric taped to the batting. That won’t work very well…I did that wrong the first time too. Here’s what your box should look like after you’ve wrapped it with the batting:

Then I carefully laid my fabric out and wrapped it around the outside of the quilt batting. If you have a pattern in your fabric use the pattern to make sure you get a straight line on the edge of your cornice box. You don’t want a crooked looking box.

I made my fabric extend out past the quilt batting so I could use more tape to attach the fabric to the foam board (I ran out of duct tape so I used clear packing tape). I put a yellow pin every inch or so to make sure it would stay in place.

I hung my curtains first. Then held up the cornice box to see how high or how low I wanted it. I decided I wanted it to overlap the very top trim of the window. Then I drilled the curtain rod brackets (the ones that the cornice box would sit on, not the curtain rod) to the wall, I separated them evenly. They’re basically right above the window corner. You can see it here:

Then just set the cornice box on top of your L brackets or extra curtain rod brackets. I’ve seen some people duct tape their cornice box to the L bracket but I haven’t found that I’ve needed to do that. Neither of ours have budged. Both of our girls use their blinds to shut the sun out and not actually the curtains. We just bought the cheap $3.99 mesh curtains from ikea to have something soft feeling there. They’re 96″ long so I just trimmed them with the scissors to fit their rooms.

Here’s how Kylie’s cornice box turned out and a little sneak peek of how her Snow White room is turning out…I can’t wait to show you guys the whole thing. Squeeeeee!! I’d love to hear how yours turn out! Let me know if you have any questions!

I used to LOVE the Little Mermaid when I was a girl. My parents were so annoyed with me for singing the songs alllll the time and watching the movie everyday. It’s not like I had an iPad to take it to my room and watch it. We had a cozy 1200 sq ft ranch home with one bubble tv in the living room so when I watched the little mermaid EVERYONE got to hear and enjoy it with me. haha. As a mom now I can’t imagine the patience it took to raise a child like me. My 6 and 7 year olds love Frozen like every girl their age and as much as I love hearing their little voices scream out their favorite song (which seriously is cute, I’m not being sarcastic there), if I have to watch Frozen or hear the soundtrack from their rooms one more time I may lose it. Chances are it will happen next week and I’ll get over it and roll my eyes and think “Let them scream out their favorite song, who knows how much longer they’ll want to put on shows and sing disney songs.”

So anyway, I love the little mermaid. I actually used to pray that God would turn me into a mermaid…because they are the coolest-let’s just admit that! I was thrilled when my mom and aunt asked if I wanted to have a mermaid themed baby shower. Since I’m having a girl I thought it would be cute to call it “Kiss the Girl” like from the song in the movie. Remember this one?

I found a few great free printables on pinterest and then I made a few things to match the invites. I created generic versions of all the printables so you can customize them for your party if you decide to have a mermaid themed shower! Download links are at the bottom! I can’t stand when I find things I want to use on pinterest but they have someone else’s menu or name all over it. There are jpgs and pdfs of everything. I made some blank ones incase you don’t have photoshop and want to add your text in another software program like microsoft word or powerpoint or some free app out there I’m sure exists. 😉

Here’s what we did! I’d love to hear how you put your own spin on the mermaid shower! Sorry we didn’t think about doing a blogpost about it when we started. These are just iPhone shots my sister, mom and aunt took at the shower.

My sister did all the cute handwritten things! She’s super artsy. Check out the little lanterns turned jelly fish my aunt made! We hung them from her dining room chandelier.

My mom made all the mini cupcakes from scratch-she’s quite the cook-if you like italian desserts you should check out her website here!

While we were mingling and snacking at the beginning, the hostesses asked guests to fill out an advice form for mom and wishes for baby. This was by far my favorite thing from the whole shower–getting to read all the sweet things my friends and family had to say. I’ll keep these forever-and I originally just thought they’d be a good time filler.

The water bottle wraps I found on pinterest from The Mommy Dialogues. You can get all her goodies here!

The green and pink tags I made – you can download them below!

The purple tags were from The Suburban Mom you should check out her Little Mermaid party here!

We had the shower at my aunt’s house and she had a picture of me on the beach when I was 5 or 6. She thought it should go out with shells and things. hehe

I really like schedules. Showers are awkward for guests that don’t know each other. Having a schedule to know what’s going on helps guests keep in mind how much longer they have to chit chat or how much longer until they can dodge out of there. hehe. We had 5 printed out and placed randomly throughout the house; the bathroom, the dessert table, by the drinks, on and end table etc. I made a generic version of this if you want to use it at your party. You can download it below.

When we opened gifts we had a Mermaid Pass, I stuffed a goodie bag with cute office supplies from Marshall’s and the bag would get passed two people to the right every time I opened something pink and then when gifts were done the person with the bag got to keep the gift. The second time around the room we passed it one to the right so that everyone had a chance to win. I mortified that I did these in such a rush I didn’t proof read them. They’re fixed in the downloads. Let’s blame it on pregnancy brain shall we?

My oldest daughter helping me open presents-check out that bow! <3

We played “He Said/She Said” after the gifts. My girls thought this was fun. I found free mustache and lips on an 8.5″x11″ from pinterest too.

My mom made my favorite cookies in the world as party favors-pistachio cookies!!! And the color matched the party-bonus. We had a little “Thanks for making the shower a splash!” sign.

I was so overwhelmed by the amazing friends and family that came out to celebrate our growing family!

SO! Feel free to download what you need here. I took all the names off so you can add your own. I’d love to see pictures if you end up using it for your own mermaid themed party!

PDFs (Better Quality-these are split into 2 zip files due to file size):

Here are the links once more-Feel free to download what you need here. I took all the names off so you can add your own. I’d love to see pictures if you end up using it for your own mermaid themed party!

PDFs (Better Quality-these are split into 2 zip files due to file size):

My youngest child, soon to be middle child, loves to display her artwork everywhere. She’s proud of everything she makes (what a great quality) but sometimes it’s overwhelming on a fridge. She likes to prop up her artwork on her nightstand and on her bookshelves and behind the dresser, and in bags, and in drawers…she really doesn’t like to throw things away. haha. I thought if we had a display wall in her room she could be in charge of which art pieces stay out and which ones we don’t really LOVE and could be recycled (like the red robin kid’s menu…all 14 of them). I had everything but the clothespins on hand but it’s still a really inexpensive project. (my favorite kind) 😉

Here’s how it turned out:

Supply list:

$3 Package of mini clothespins from walmart craft section

$3.63 Spray paint (I had some on hand)

$2 furring strip 1x2x8

wood screws (I had some in the garage)

I had some scrap wood left over from another project already cut so I used them in the current size. They’re approx 3′ long.

My oldest daughter is loving her room. I am so glad she’s happy but I’m really happy this project is over. I knew this one would be a lot of work but I really underestimated the pain-in-the-butt-ery this accent wall would be. I have some suggestions at the end of what will make life a lot easier if you choose to do a wall like this.

Before:

After:

I was super pumped that my supply list was so cheap. I even had some scrap wood left over.

I asked Home Depot to cut the plywood into 6″ strips. It made transporting easier too. I cut the strips at a 45 degree angle. I had to flip my strips over and finish the cuts because my saw didn’t have the span to cut through it all in one cut (I should have just done 4″ strips).

I sanded down the sides. I spray painted half of the pieces white.

I spray painted the other half with a clear gloss coat.

I started measuring the wall. I didn’t want crooked angles but I didn’t realize I was doing this measuring the hard way with a laser level and a pencil. By the end of the project I had found the fastest way to get the right measurement was using this little ruler with a level. I would measure out how far my piece of wood would go, make a small mark, then hold the level vertical and make sure it was level, then mark a small section on the wall.

Then the fun part! I got to start stapling pieces to the wall.

After I filled the nail holes on the white boards with white caulking. I didn’t fill the ones on the natural wood. I liked their look.

What I would differently:

I wouldn’t worry too much about sanding the plywood. I still had to pull little shreds of plywood from the outside edges once they were on the wall anyway. Some of the later cuts I did to fill in the last column and bottom row I didn’t sand at all and they look the same as the others.

Check what size wood your saw can cut. Mine didn’t cut through 6″ strips in one cut. I had to flip it over to finish the cut. If I would have known this I would have done 4″ strips of wood to save myself the headache.

I’d consider doing a painted stripe on the wall and plywood instead of plywood for both. The angles were such a pain to get to match up exactly. Mine aren’t perfect. They don’t meet up in every spot. I filled in some but left most alone because it wasn’t terrible.

Make sure to note that you have a pretty side and a boring side of your wood. I had no idea until after I had made all my 45 degree cuts that one side was beautiful and one was just blah and I couldn’t flip them over and use the other side. I really should have paid attention to this.

When making your cuts on thin plywood just know the back will get ripped up a bit. I should have cut all mine pretty side up.

This summer my husband has been traveling a bunch for work. It’s given me some extra time to check off projects from my to-do list. I have a long running list in my phone of projects I’d like to do in my house. It’s probably kind of weird but I love lists.

I wanted to replace the photos above the girls’ towels in their bathroom. I had stuck some photos up there when we moved in just because there was already a nail there and they were pictures I already had. It didn’t look great.

Before:

After:

This bathroom altogether kind of makes me cringe but my girls love it. When we looked at the house originally it had a hot pink, black, and light pink Paris theme. Black and light pink everywhere–and tons of decals. I’m just not a decal fan. Sorry to be a decal snob..I just hate them. There I said it. But when you’re moving to a new house anything that your kids are excited about is a plus and they loved the house with the pink bathroom. So we made a compromise to keep 2 decals instead of the 45 that were in there (ok there weren’t really 45 but there was probably 12).

I toned down the shower curtain to a mostly white one with white towels, got rid of the paris drawer pulls and did silver pulls. So next was replacing the photos above their towels. The girls wanted something with glitter!

I had 2 16″x20″ canvases left over from other projects, we went to the store for glitter, spray glue, and cardboard letters.

I sprayed the glue in a small area and let the girls dump on glitter.

We started on the letters with the same process.

I tried to hot glue the letters to the canvas…that wasn’t the best idea…they fell off and dumped tons of glitter everywhere.

I ended up having to buy a little sewing kit and sewing the letters to the canvas.

You really can’t see the thread unless you’re looking for it.

The girls were thrilled with their project and we got to work on one together so mom liked that 😉

If I were to do it over I would have used the large glitter chunks on the letters as well. The girls really wanted to the powdery glitter for their letters but the texture didn’t look as good as the background in my opinion. And I wouldn’t have used hot glue that first time to attach the letters…so much glitter fell…

You. Guys. I think I’m freaking out over a door…yes a door. I love our house but for some reason there wasn’t a door between our master bedroom and master bathroom. My poor hubby was getting ready in the dark to try and not wake me up on early mornings.

Before:

After:

I really wanted a sliding door but the hardware alone for those guys is like $300 not including a door. I was pretty pumped to find a few pinterest tutorials I could mix together to find a cheaper solution. I only spent $80. Icing on the cake.

I found this awesome door at Restore Habitat for Humanity for $40 (Restore is like a thrift store for home stuff and construction supplies and all the proceeds benefit Habitat for Humanity). KC has a few locations but my fav is the one on 87th and Farley.

Sand it. Paint it.

Distress it.

Tape off your windows and spray your glass with frosted glass spray paint. I was surprised that it didn’t get blotchy. I was able to get 5 coats out of one can and it was just what I wanted.

Drill pilot holes for your screw eye hooks (you don’t want your wood to split!). Screw in the hooks, make sure they’re sticking out equal distance from the door. So! My pipes were 1″. Most screw eye hooks have a hole that is 1″ in diameter. I needed a hook that was larger than 1″. I had the hardest time finding one-I called 5 stores before finding one that worked. Blah! So get pipes, flanges, and elbows that are 3/4″.

Drill pilot holes for your casters and attach them.

Spray paint your pipes.

Since my pipe length didn’t match up with the studs on my wall, I attached a 1″x4″ pine board to the studs. (Make sure to set your door against the wall to know the correct height.)

Attach one flange and elbow to the pipe and attach them to the pine board. Leave the other side open of your pipe open so you can slide your door on and make sure it’s the right height. We had to adjust the height of our screw hooks a few times to get it just right. Then attach your other elbow and flange.

Ours made an awful squeaky sound so I used some PAM the cooking spray on the pipes and it worked like a charm! Smooth sliding and no high pitch girl scream sound!